David Ortiz talks contract, Derek Jeter injury

John TomaseMonday, October 15, 2012

Credit: AP

FALLEN CAPTAIN: Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter is helped off the field by trainer Steve Donohue (left) and manager Joe Girardi during Saturday night’s Game 1 of the ALCS in New York. Jeter fractured his ankle and is done for the postseason.

NEW YORK — There’s been plenty of speculation over what exactly David Ortiz wants out of his next contract.

The consensus seems to be two years (which the designated hitter steadfastly has maintained) and between $25 million and $30 million.

Yesterday, Ortiz sought to set the record straight.

“I want two years and $60 (million)!” Ortiz said jokingly in a phone interview.

To reiterate: Ortiz was joking. That said, he has made no secret of his desire to remain in Boston, and he said yesterday that the Red Sox are expected to reach out to his representatives this week. According to Ortiz, the two sides haven’t talked much yet.

If Ortiz is considering his career mortality, he has good reason. He turned off the New York Yankees game Saturday night with the Detroit Tigers leading 4-0 in the eighth inning. Not until he got a text the next morning did he even find out that Yankees captain Derek Jeter, against whom Ortiz has waged a decade worth of fierce battles, had been lost for the playoffs with a broken ankle.

“He’s got to be so devastated, bro,” Ortiz said. “That’s a tough one. I know that’s the one guy you don’t want to see something like that happen to. You don’t want to see that happen to anybody, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve got a lot of respect for him. He’s a class guy, you know what I’m saying? There’s not one person in baseball that doesn’t respect Derek Jeter. He’s the kind of guy that every time you play the Yankees, you want to play against him. That’s how much respect I have for him. Watching him go down like that is not right. It’s just not right.”

Ortiz knows how finite a big leaguer’s playing days are. It’s why he has consistently asked the Red Sox for a contract extension that will take him through age 38, at which point he could very well retire.

Ortiz’ season ended in frustrating fashion. He made the All-Star team with some of the best numbers in the game before a heel injury in July cost him all but one game the rest of the way.

The DH is living proof the game can be taken away at any moment, which Jeter’s injury merely reinforced.

“You know what? I was watching the interview with (Yankees manager Joe) Girardi when he was saying that this injury is from what Jeter has played through before, that didn’t allow him to move like he was supposed to,” Ortiz said. “I think he’s absolutely right. Derek has put his body through a lot. You see the play, it looks like his ankle locked up on him. He just laid there.”

Jeter has been hobbled to some degree since suffering a bone bruise on that same left ankle against the Red Sox at Fenway Park on Sept.â€‰12. The shortstop gamely played through the injury and early in Saturday night’s Game 1 against the Tigers notched the 200th postseason hit of his career, the most in history.

“Like (Tigers manager Jim) Leyland said, when you think of the playoffs, it’s the (Atlanta) Braves making it all those years in a row, Reggie Jackson and Derek Jeter,” Ortiz said. “When you think of a player to watch at this time of year, you definitely think of Derek Jeter. Him not being out there, it’s a tough one.”